It was morning, and Ronnie Anne was now waking up from sleeping on the floor of a cavern. It wasn't her best night of sleep, but she made do as she pulled her face off a pillow it was buried in and yawned while rubbing her eyes. So after the rest of the girls, except for Beth, still cupping Lincoln in her hands as she slept on her right side, had decided to wake up as well.
Jordan:"Morning, girls. How'd you all sleep."
Stella:"(cracks bones) Could've been better. Now I know what it's like, sleeping on hard ground."
Pretty soon, Lincoln woke up as well and was pretty shocked to see the position he was in. Seeing how awkward he felt, the girls giggled to themselves from the look of it. And then Beth wakes up soon after, yawning pretty loudly as she opens her eyes to see the white-haired boy.
Beth:"Mmm. Morning, Lincoln. How did you sleep?"
Lincoln:"Very comfortably. Thanks, Beth."
Ronnie Anne:"Gee, I wonder why."
Allowing Lincoln to climb off her hands, Beth picks herself off the ground, standing on both legs while stretching. Lincoln does the same, gathering himself while the girls look at him with mischievous smiles.
Ronnie Anne:"So, Lincoln...how did it feel, being Beth's stress-toy?"
Lincoln:"(flustered) She didn't squeeze me!"
They kept their laughter in while Lincoln was turning red.
Lincoln:"So, how did you all sleep?"
Jordan:"What can we say? We were sleeping on rocks?"
Stella:"I made that pretty clear already."
Lincoln:"Well, let's just get dressed and get ready to head out today."
And with that, they soon head back upstairs to meet up with the others. Soon enough, everyone met up in the living room.
Lincoln:"Good morning, everyone."
NJ:"Mmm. Another hour of sleep sounds to good to me."
Raine elbows his cranky roommate.
Raine:"We shouldn't waste any more time. We got a long day ahead of us, and should focus on finding Andrew and his deadbeat of a dad."
Christina:"Raine, I don't mean to interrupt, but perhaps it's best if we don't all go this time."
Raine:"That's cool. We'll do a four person team this time, me and NJ included."
NJ:"Any volunteers?"
Lincoln:"I'm willing to head out okay."
Stella:"Same here!"
Raine:"Great. Now we just need to get you two armed...again."
The weapons they got were an umbrella for Lincoln and a Glock 18 with a silver barrel and black handle for Stella. Stella was a little hesitant to have a gun in hand, while Lincoln was crack to yet again have another useless weapons.
Lincoln:"Why do I always get the ones that do the least amount of damage?"
Rolling his eyes, NJ takes the umbrella and strips it of the parasol, leaving only its stem for Lincoln to stab enemies with.
Lincoln:"Okay. This will do."
Raine:"(loads his Beretta) We should head out now."
Lincoln:"Right. I guess we'll see you guys later."
Ronnie Anne:"Hold that thought for a second."
Unexpectedly, Ronnie Anne comes up and gives Lincoln a small kiss on the nose, making him blush.
Ronnie Anne:"For luck?"
Lincoln"(nervously) Heh, heh, heh. Luck...right."
NJ:"Okay, let's go, lover boy."
Dragging a red-faced Lincoln along with him, NJ and the rest of the team head out of the cabin. Meanwhile, in the forest, at the bottom of a cliffside, Andreas was with his son, looking over his next generation of combat robots, designed with a endo-skeletal form and equipped with heavy, high-powered laser weapons. Given what happened to the last batch, Andreas wanted Andrew to be sure of one thing.
Andreas:"As of this point, I'm in charge of how these robots operate. We can't afford to lose these ones."
Andrew:"Is this about what happened last time?"
Andreas:"Yes, it is! Now, soldiers! Load up and prepare for battle!"
Doing as they were told, the robots opened a port on top of their guns, which absorbed electricity as they charged up.
Andrew:"There! Now, they are ready!"
All the while this was happening, Raine's team were walking through the forest in search of anything out of the ordinary.
Stella:"So, what do you think this nutty professor is up to since the last time?"
Raine:"No doubt, would he be trying to approve in his skills at trying to capture us."
Lincoln:"And...just how good is this guy at doing that?"
NJ:"He's like...Dr. Evil."
The vibe Lincoln and Stella got from that was that Andreas was more crazy than smart. Nevertheless, they head up to a cliffside and saw Andreas and his robot soldiers directly below them.
Stella:"Those robots look a little different from the ones we fought before."
Raine:"Not gonna be a problem. Let's not waste anymore time!"
Meanwhile...
Andreas:"(looking over a map) I've narrowed down a few locations as to where those kids oughta be."
Andrew:"Well, I hope so. It's not like those kids are just gonna fall out of the sky."
And just as he says that, the team jumps out of hiding, brandishing their weapons.
Lincoln:"Surrender, you two! Or face our wrath!"
Andreas seemed unaffected by Lincoln's threat. In fact, he found it hilarious that a little kid tried to threaten him as he began to laugh hysterically.
Raine:"What's so funny?"
Andreas:"It's just that you kids all this way...to get yourselves killed. Take aim!"
Doing as they're told, the robots aimed all their rifles at the kids, who were beginning to see that this was a bad idea.
Stella:"Way to lead us straight to our doom, Raine."
Raine:"Scatter!"
Andreas:"Open fire!"
Soon the kids ran for their lives as the forest was then getting vaporized by laser fire.
Stella:"Who's stupid idea was this again?!"
NJ:"Raine's!"
Then suddenly, two robots jumped in front of them, cutting them off from their route.
Raine:"Lincoln, Stella! Get out of here! We'll hold them off!"
Doing so, the two kids ran off, leaving Raine and NJ to deal with the robots. But their weapons appeared to be ineffective as the robots were bulletproof and durable. Not even bothering to fire their weapons, one of the robots ripped a bamboo tree from the ground and swung it at the two. Pretty soon, their vision went white as Lincoln and Stella were still running away. But not before they were forced to deal with another pair of robots themselves. Upon firing her gun, Stella was shocked to see that the bullets were just bouncing off of them.
Stella:"Oh, no."
Attempting melee attacks, the robots tried to hit the kids with the back end of their guns. Stella managed to dodge one of those attacks, but Lincoln wasn't so lucky as she was shocked to see him fall to the ground, unconscious.
Stella:"LINCOLN!"
The robot managed to hit her that time, leaving her with a few bruises.
Struggling to get back up, she looked to see a robot pointing its gun at her. But before it could fire, it was suddenly decapitated by NJ's sword as its body sparked with electricity, moving erratically before it fell backwards. But of the guys managed to get away with a few cuts and bruises themselves and helped deal with the other robots that had Lincoln and Stella cornered. However, they were shocked to see that Lincoln was on the floor, out cold and with a black eye forming.
Raine:"Oh no. Lincoln..."
NJ:"We should get out of here."
Hoisting the unconscious boy over his shoulder, Raine and the others made a break for it. And as they did, Stella got close enough and whispered something into Lincoln's ear.
Stella:"I'm sorry this happened to you, Lincoln. I hope that you're gonna be okay. And I swear, I'm never gonna let this happen to you again."
As they fled, Andreas eventually caught up and caught a glimpse at NJ'a handiwork. Taking the severed robot head, he glared at seeing another one of his inventions destroyed.
Andrew:"Look on the bright side, at least all the other ones are still in one piece."
Andreas:"Indeed... take the remains and bring them back to the fortress. Gonna have to make some serious repairs and upgrades."
Returning to the cabin, the team assessed of where the situation had gotten them. One man down and not a step closer to taking down Andreas.
Raine:"For now on, Lincoln stays at the cabin."
NJ:"That's right. We can't afford to put anybody else in danger."
Stella:"I think that sounds fair."
The moment they entered, the others were shocked to see Lincoln out cold and with a black eye as Ronnie Anne and Jordan ran up towards him.
Ronnie Anne:"What the heck happened?!"
Jordan:"Lincoln! Is he alright!"
Raine:"Get back and give him air! I need to put him on the coach."
When Beth saw Lincoln like this, calling her angry was an understatement as she slammed her fist against the wall of her cavern and made the whole cabin shake.
Beth:"How did this happen?!"
NJ:"Andreas..."
Raine:"He upgraded his robots and one of them must've gotten to Lincoln."
Beth:"Is it gonna be okay?"
Raine:"He's fine. But when he wakes up is a different question."
As Lincoln was put on the coach, Ronnie Anne grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and placed it over his eye. And as she does that, Christina supports Lincoln's head with a pillow.
Christina:"I hope you're okay, Lincoln."
Ronnie Anne:"Andreas is gonna pay for this. No one hurts my Lame-O."
Christina hits Ronnie Anne on the shoulder for calling Lincoln that.
NJ:"We'll go and get some herbs so that Lincoln can recover faster."
Beth:"I'm heading with."
Mollie:"Count me in. I got nothing better to do."
Paige:"We are you even supposed to find herbs around the forest?"
Melody:"There are a number of places. (points to a map on the wall) The closest one is by middle of the woods."
Jordan:"...How come we never noticed that map before?"
Raine:"We'll head over there and be back as quickly as possible. The rest of you guys, stay here and make sure Lincoln is taken care for."
Ronnie Anne:"Not a problem."
Beth:"Let me go get my pickaxe."
Later, they team was already in the woods, searching for herbs.
Mollie:"You really think Lincoln will be okay?"
Raine:"I hope so. He didn't deserve that."
NJ:"Let's also hope to not run into Andreas again."
Beth:"I think I see some herbs. But, there also seems to be a-WHOA!"
Suddenly, Beth falls into a ginormous crater right were the herbs were. The others look to see that Beth had landed on her face, and that, thanks to her size, she survived the fall.
Raine:"Well...this is new."
Mollie:"What? You mean to tell me there was a giant sinkhole here beforehand?"
NJ:"Nope."
Raine:"We should probably check to see if Beth is alright."
Getting some climbing gear, specifically some ropes and climbing axes, they begin to propel themselves down into the hole.
Back at the cabin, Christina was looking over Lincoln when the boy's eyes fluttered to open up. His right was blackened, so he could barely open that one. As he was waking up, Christina was relief, glad to see him okay as Lincoln slowly tried to get up. However, his head was aching and felt like he could fall over again.
Christina:"(supports his back) Easy, Lincoln. You might have a concussion."
Lincoln:"Ugh...How long have I been out?"
Christina:"Honestly, about fifteen minutes."
Lincoln:"Oh..."
Then Ronnie Anne came in was instantly happy to see that Lincoln was okay as she walks over to him.
Ronnie Anne:"Hey, Lincoln. How're you feeling?"
Lincoln:"...Felt like someone stepped on my head."
Ronnie Anne:"Heh. I'll get you something to eat. Hope you like canned chicken soup."
And while she walks back into the kitchen, Lincoln slowly gets back on his feet with Christina to support him as he looks around and sees that he's in the cabin again.
Lincoln:"How'd I even get back here?"
Christina:"Raine carried you back when you were hurt. Then he, NJ, Mollie and Beth went out to get some herbs to help speed up your recovery. You gave us all quite the scare."
Lincoln:"...Sorry."
Christina:"It's okay. We're just glad you're alright."
And that's when Stella came in, and the moment when she saw Lincoln awake, she ran up to him and hugged him.
Stella:"Lincoln, I'm glad to see you're awake. Are you okay?"
Lincoln:"I'm fine, Stella. Really."
Stella:"Oh, Lincoln. I'm sorry you got hurt and that you got a black eye. There wasn't anything I could do help you."
Lincoln:"It was not your fault."
Stella:"Still, you got hurt and I feel responsible for it. So for now on, you're not leaving this cabin anytime soon."
Lincoln:"Huh?"
Stella:"You're going to stay here until you fully recover, and I'm going to make sure of it!"
Not know where Stella came up with acting like a strict mother, Lincoln saw no reason to argue as he sadly accept and rested his head on Stella's shoulder.
Stella:"It's for the best Lincoln. (pats his back)"
And it then that Ronnie Anne came in with a bowl of chicken soup for Lincoln.
Ronnie Anne:"Here. This should help with some of your injuries."
Lincoln:"Thanks, Ronnie Anne."
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the crater, the team start off with not really finding much, until Mollie spots something at a distance.
Mollie:"Over there! A cave entrance!"
There was grand oppression carved into the side of the crater, and the team decides to have a look inside. It seemed to have led underground as it seems that they were going down. There only had enough space for some walking, while Beth was forced to crouch down a little to continue following the rest of the team.
Beth:"It's a little cramped in here."
NJ:"Just keep moving Beth. This cave seems to go down for a while."
But after a few minutes of walking, they actually came be another crevice that seemed too small for Beth to fit through.
Raine:"Hope none of us are claustrophobic."
Beth watched as the others had gone in first before she got down on her arms and knees and try to crawl in. But the sound of rocks crumbling made the other three stop and turn around to see Beth wedged in between the crevice. Putting arms on the ground in front of her and having her hands balled up into fists, Beth tries move forward, but to no avail.
Beth:"You guys go on…I'll catch up."
Getting the idea that she was stuck, the others would have to come back for her later as they press onward. After a couple of seconds, the sound of liquids rushing filled Mollie's ears.
Mollie:"Hey. You guys hear that?"
Raine:"...Yeah, I do."
NJ:"Sounds like an underground river."
Mollie:"And its coming from there. Come on!"
Heading deeper into the tunnel, the three stop at an open space where there was in fact a river of liquid, glowing a bright purple color as it was flowing through the cavern.
Mollie:"Whoa...what is this stuff? Definitely not water."
NJ:"...We've seen it before."
Mollie:"You have?"
Raine:"When Andreas first gave us our powers. He used this liquid in a more concentrated form and injected it into us. He called it 'Radi-X'."
NJ:"Yeah. But this is at its purest form."
Mollie:"Weird."
The moment she reached to touch, at her fingertips, she felt a surge of energy coursing through.
Mollie:"Whoa! Agh. Felt like my arm was struck by lightning."
Raine:"Hmm...I say we take some of this stuff back to the cabin."
NJ:"And how do you suggest we do that?"
Raine:"With these..."
Taking something out, it was revealed to be transparent three canisters, the size of buckets, with lids that were sealed tight. And with that settled, the three unscrewed lids, dip the canisters into the river and had them fill up before sealing them again.
Mollie:"Man, this stuff looks so cool."
NJ:"Don't drink it."
Mollie:"I wasn't going to!"
Raine:"Let's just head back already."
Upon returning to Beth, even she recognizes the liquid by the sight of it.
Beth:"Where did you guys get that?"
Mollie:"There's a whole river of the stuff directly ahead of here."
Raine:"We'll talk about it later. For now, let's get you out of there."
They each pushed at her Beth's face, squishing her cheeks while she braced her hands against the walls of the caverns and began to push. It took a little strength and risk of the whole cavern coming down, but they managed to push Beth loose as she crawled backwards and managed to get back on her feet as the other walked out of the crevice.
Beth:"So, what are you guys planning to do with that?"
Raine:"Take it back to cabin and analyze it."
Back at the cabin, everyone, minus Lincoln, were busy waiting for the others to return. Bored out of their minds, they had nothing better to do but sit around and bounce a ball against tree.
Ronnie Anne:"What's taking them so long?"
Paige:"Maybe they got lost?"
Melody:"They're not lost. They're coming right now."
And that's when the team showed up with the three canisters of the liquid they gathered.
Beth:"How's Lincoln doing?"
Ronnie Anne:"He's awake now, but he's moping inside since Stella pretty much grounded him."
Stella:"I did not ground him! I just told him that he couldn't go out and do dangerous stuff anymore."
Mollie:"...That's exactly what grounding is."
Beth:"Let's just go see how he is."
Upon entering the cabin, they could hear Beth stomping over to her opening, causing the whole place to shake, as well as the canisters, rather violently. They were a little annoyed by this as Beth even pounded the cavern wall a bit.
NJ:"Beth, take it easy with the quaking!"
Mollie:"You'll end up waking Lincoln!"
The white-haired boy rested on the couch, stirring a bit in his sleep due to the quaking.
Beth:"My bad."
With that, Mollie began to work on fixing up Lincoln with some of the herbs they found on the way back, rubbing some of them onto the bandages around his head. And while she treated him, the other checked on the liquid Raine's team brought back.
Raine:"This is the same stuff Andreas injected us with, but at a more pure form. From what we understand, it has many uses as a mutagen and an energy source. Andreas uses it to fuel his contraptions."
Jordan:"We could be of use to us?"
Raine:"We fight fire with fire. Build our own contraption to rival Andreas' robot army."
Ronnie Anne:"You really think we can pull that off?"
Raine:"It's worth a try. And it's possible because I know where Raine get's the parts for his toys."
That place happened to have been a scrapyard not too far away from where the cabin was. Beth kept a lookout for Andreas and gave they signal when it was all clear. Taking what supplies they needed for...whatever they were gonna build, Raine set down how they were gonna do this. Ronnie Anne found herself working on the frame for a catapult's base., while Raine and Stella worked on the arm and bucket, aka, the launching parts. NJ and Mollie were working on another...special kind of modification that would help give them a competitive edge. Speaking of which, Jordan and Paige were adding some other special attachments to the base that would give them a whole lot more ammunition to work with. Mollie then found herself working at the bottom of the vehicle, to make sure it could get mobile...when oil squirted into her face. This causes her to stumbles backwards before rolling down the hill the cabin was on. NJ and Jordan witnessed then, wincing at when she landed.
NJ:"If we don't get ourselves killed, getting Andreas, we'll end up killed, just building this."
As for how Beth was helping, she was testing how far the catapult could launch ammo, pulling at the rope that releasing it and seeing their log, which they use as testing ammo, disappear over the horizon. Seeing how promising their work was, Raine wrote down the results on paper. With their hard work finished, the group gaze at the heavily-equipped catapult they built. It was all metal and with the endoskeleton of a tank, which allows it to go into cannon mode with the hwachas for arrows on opposite sides of the body.
Jordan:"I'm surprised we were able to build this thing."
Melody:"Definitely the hardest thing we've ever done."
Raine:"I say we go out and test this baby on some of Andreas' robots."
They all agreed when...
Lincoln:"Hold up guys."
Turning around, they saw the boy dizzily walking towards them, but with a determined look on his face.
Christina:"Lincoln, you shouldn't be up right now."
Stella:"I thought I told you that you're not gonna be doing anything dangerous!"
Lincoln:"You need all the help you can get. And I need to make up for my last failure."
Raine:"Lincoln, you didn't fail. You got hurt. There's a difference."
Lincoln:"I'm going. And you can't stop me."
As he walks past them, they all look at him with concern and worry as he hops onto the base of the catapult. With no other choice, they embark into the forest to carry out the mission. Beth did her best to stay amongst the trees while the others rode on their tank.
Back to Andreas, he and Andrew were finishing up with another set up of robots, having up to twelve at this point.
Andreas:"My hopes are that we can keep these robots in line this time."
Andrew:"And you're sure we got things this time?"
Andreas:"Hmm...about 90 percent sure."
Andrew:"Well, don't let that last 10 percent fool you."
Andreas:"I won't. I have the upmost confidence that my mechanical soldiers are not ready to endure any possible-"
But before he could finish his sentence, a boulder comes from the sky and crushes two of the robots.
Andreas:"(D8)"
Up on a cliff, the kids had just launched their catapult, happy to see their had a direct hit.
Raine:"Good shot, Ronnie Anne."
Ronnie Anne was manning the cannon while the Christina and Mollie were on the hwachas, Raine was driving and they Lincoln far in the back where he was supposed to be the 'lookout', but he knew they just wanted him out of danger. Deciding to move ahead, Beth lowers herself and she spreads out her hands and rides down her arms and shoulders like a really long ramp. The catapult rides over her shoulders and moves closer to where Andreas is stationed. Seeing that there were under attack, Andreas ordered his robots to advance as the team continues to fire at them whenever given the chance. Christina and Mollie even begin to fire at them with their hwachas. They exploded on impact when the robots were hit with them.
Mollie:"Take that, robo-scum!"
Three robots had managed to get close and were about to open fire when Beth suddenly jumps and does an Iron-Man landing, slamming fists into the ground, causing a quake, knocking a few robots off their feet. And it then that Raine shifted the catapult into tank mode, and Ronnie Anne fires some of their Radi-X while NJ aims at wherever the robots are. Deciding to help out, Lincoln brought out what looked like a Stielhandgranate, a grenade held at a handle with the bomb itself glowing purple. Unfortunately, the moment he threw it, a robot practically smacked it away as bounced back towards the tank and stuck there.
Raine:"Oh shoot! Abandon ship!"
Everyone was forced to evacuate as the top half of the catapult was destroyed, leaving only the base as it looked like a boiler just exploded. Smoke covered the area and the kids used as their chance to escape. Seeing that his robots were lost in the smoke, Andreas could tell that the kids were gone.
Andreas:"How do they get away so easily?"
Andrew:"Maybe they're just that smart."
Andreas:"You know those weapons they were using? They were fueled by Radi-X. Our supply has been compromised. Go, take some soldiers and guard it!"
Andrew:"(sarcastically) Aye aye, captain."
Meanwhile, the team managed to bring back the smoldering remains of their tank, sadden to have seen all their hardwork destroyed by a simple grenade...that Lincoln threw.
Mollie:"Smooth move, Lincoln. You just had to help, even though you weren't a hundred percent fine! You should've just stayed behind! We were doing fine without you!"
Jordan:"Mollie, lay off. It was an accident."
Mollie:"An accident that nearly got us killed! And Lincoln should've known better!"
Seeing her turn her back away from Lincoln made him feel real bad.
Lincoln:"Mollie, I...I just wanted to help."
Mollie:"(turns back) Yeah?! Well, maybe if you had just stayed behind, none of this would've happened! But you just had to show off, while you're one of the clumsiest boys I've ever seen!"
The other girls were shocked as they've never seen Mollie this angry before. Christina and Ronnie Anne tried intervene as Christina went over to comfort Lincoln and Ronnie Anne got in Mollie's face.
Ronnie Anne:"Mollie, that's enough! You're tired, so back off!"
But she did, she only got angrier as she managed to push her and Christina aside.
Mollie:"You know what, Lincoln?! All you do is make things worse! I'm starting to wish that robot crippled you so that you couldn't do anything!"
Now Lincoln was getting scared of her as NJ stepped up and put his hand on her shoulder.
NJ:"Mollie. Lay off. We're not gonna go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes after we've just been through!"
Mollie:"(swats hand away) Don't you remember what just happened?! Lincoln threw the bomb that blow the whole thing up!"
NJ:"Would you rather that bomb landed on him instead?"
Mollie:"...Yes!"
The others were surprised by her answer as she tried to stomp away, but Lincoln followed her in an attempt to apologize.
Lincoln:"Mollie, wait!"
Mollie:"Back...OFF!"
But then suddenly, she turned around and delivered an enraged punch straight in Lincoln's face, sending back against a tree and knocking him down. Dizzily, Lincoln got up and felt the side of his head, only to feel like throwing up at the sight of his own blood, that was running down his head. The others were just as horrified as Lincoln had tears coming down his eyes as he turned and limped away from the group.
Beth:"Lincoln, wait!"
Christina:"Lincoln!"
Melody:"Come back!"
Jordan:"Lincoln, stop!"
But their pleads fell to deaf ears as they all watched Lincoln disappear into the forest.
